Murder Will Keep Us Together

Two days later...I sat in Sam Mother's Diner for breakfast with my wife, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace and Detectives Tyriq and Sirena Pile. It was a Friday...My court case was over, thank goodness..Opposing council ,seeing that they were on the losing end, struck a plea agreement that the people were happy with...

My Detectives weren't so happy...They had four open murders...same M.O. and no clue as to who or why...

"This place is amazing...I love the food here and it will always be special to me.." said Carlotta.

''Special Lotta?" said Sirena.

"Yes...This is where my honey bunny and I had our first date." she said smiling...

Tyriq smiled...He remembered...

Sirena laughed...

''First date? Wow Keith, you really know how to impress a girl." she said..

I busted out laughing....So Did Carlotta and Tyriq..

"It wasn't really a date ,date...She calls it that.." I said.

"It was another mysterious case...just like this one...I had just started putting this unit together...At the time..It was just Carlotta, Tyriq and Duke...This was before even Jimmy had come along...Or Hazel or Hop...This one was particularly troubling...It was the third slaying of a young woman in close to three months....All three homicides had the same M.O.  ,Young Black, mid to late twenties, attractive....alone in their apartment...No sign of breaking and entering!!!I didn't want to be here, but these murders looked like they might be the work of a serial killer and so by all means, I wanted to supervise this investigation...I'd be lying if I said that that was the only reason I was at this particular scene....The pretty lead detective had given me a call.." I said and winked at Carlotta who smiled and blushed...

"I told her to call you in...See, She had been loving you from afar for years and I kept saying to her...Why don't you ask him out...but you know your wife...Proper little old fashioned Catholic Girl...''I can't ask him out..." she said..I kept saying Carlotta,it's no big deal...She kept saying.."It is a very big deal.." So I said..well we got a big murder case here...Call him...So she did...I knew he liked her too, He always asked about her, her progress, how she was doing...and I knew once they got to talking, he'd make his move...And he did."said Tyriq.

"Yeah,the conversation went kinda like this- "Detective Rodriguez! So nice to see you again...though I'm sorry it's an occassion like this." I said.

"Yeah..I know right  ADA, but that's the business we are in...We are murder police..At least I am for the time being." she said.

''Please..Please Carlotta, can I call you Carlotta?  We don't have to be so formal...You can call me Keith...Keith Wallace." I said.

"I'd prefer we keep it more professional like...at least.......while we are on the clock." she said.

Lawd...She said that and kind of curled her lip in a sensual way...Wow...I really like this woman...the way she carries herself and everything...

"Yes..Y-Yes...of course Detective....You're absolutely right." I found myself saying, embarrassed..She sensed it...I thought I sensed a bit of a smile on her part.

"It's okay...Perhaps we might meet for a drink after hours sometime." she said.

"Yes..Y-Yes..th-that would be a ...that would be a -a great idea...Now about this murder?" I said.

"Same M.O. as the other two....her name is Ruth Ann Richardson...27, single...Attends Temple University during the day...Works at a strip club as an exotic dancer at night...Also works at a 7-eleven part time...No criminal record at all." she said.

 "They found her in the bedroom, in just panties and a t-shirt...She had been raped or at least she had had sex and then strangled...The killer then dressed her and departed...No sign of breaking or entering...Just like Wilma Whetstone last month and Jessica Edgely in June." said Carlotta.

"Wow." I said.

"I've got three plain clothes officers assigned to me and six uniforms...I have em canvassing the neighborhood for witnesses and interviewing anybody that knew her..." she said.

"You didn't find any DNA or fingerprints on the other two did you?" I asked.

"We found semen in victim one, Jessica Edgerly, none on victim two...and we talked to both victims family members,close friends and business associates.. Wilma Whetstone also attended Temple and like this one was a stripper, though not at the same strip club...Hopefully we'll pull some DNA off of this one that matches the DNA we have from the first case." said Carlotta.

"They know each other?" I asked.

"No.  Jessica Edgely  didn't attend Temple, She went to Penn and unlike the other two, she wasn't a stripper..She was a waitress at Sam Mother's joint a few blocks from here." said Carlotta.

"I think we have a serial killer." I said.

"There does seem to be a link....I hope we can find some DNA or something..." said Carlotta.


"Looks like you've got this under control here...You uh mentioned Sam Mother's place...You hungry?" I asked.

Carlotta shot me a sly look, then smiled...

"Yeah ,I am..Hold Up..Rico?" she said.

 Keep me abreast on this case...I'm going to breakfast with the ADA."she said.

"Okay Top...I'm on it." he said.

''Well Mr. ADA....I'm all yours." she said with a smile.

She and I came here...I bought her breakfast...We talked and the rest is history." I said.

"Aww...That was you two's first date?" said Sirena.

"Yes..that is how we began..." said Carlotta..

 II-
Our food and coffee arrived and we began to eat...

''Speaking of which...where are we on that pair of double homicides?" I asked..

"Dead in the water...Hop and I interviewed both friends and family of the victims...We couldn't find anything..Nobody had anything bad to say about them...We checked their credit and their bank accounts...All good, no debts...We interviewed the entire staff of the school she worked at and the Post office...Nothing bad to say, Alibis checked out..." said Sirena.

"We cross checked..The Jones and The Johnsons didn't know each other and had no friends or associates in common.." said Sirena...

"Did Jimmy find anything on tape?" I asked.

"Only a man in a tan jacket, with a black hoodie running from both scenes...we blew it up, but got no visual of his face..." said Carlotta.

Just then, a man fitting that very description paid for his food, got up and hurried out...He got in a taxi cab and drove off..

It wasn't lost on any of us...

"That guy was sitting in the booth behind us listening to our entire conversation." said Carlotta..

"He was waiting for his food." said Tyriq...

"Maybe...but he sure seemed a little weird..I agree with Lotta, He seemed very interested in our convo." said Sirena.

"Well, Neither of us better make out in our cars tonight." laughed Sirena.

''Where they do that at?" joked Tyriq.

We all busted out laughing....

III-

Later that night...That very night...We met with Sissy, Duke,Jimmy, Hazel and Hop in South Philly....Once again...a car was parked on a side street....several rounds were found on the street and two people, a man and a woman were found in the front seat...

The woman's blouse was open...Her bra half on and the man's trousers were open at the zipper, his penis exposed...Two nice neat holes in his head and one hole in the woman's head...blood all over the front seat...

"Don't tell me...Let me guess ,these two just got married?"asked Carlotta..

"No...They were just engaged.. They would have gotten married next week...." said Jimmy...

Tyriq tapped Carlotta on the shoulder....She and he saw a coffee cup....They instructed a uniformed officer to bag it and tag it for evidence...

"It's a coffee cup and look where it's from?  Sam Mother's Diner." said Sirena...

''What would a coffee cup from Sam Mother's Diner be doing in South Philly? It's on the other side of town?" I asked.

"It's something...Maybe it is...Maybe it isn't...But it does seem out of place here...Maybe we can get some DNA off of it." said Sissy.

"Who are these people?" I asked.

"Paul Brown and Charlotte Stevens...He's a Lawyer, She's a Stock Broker. Witnesses said that they saw a man, average build in a tan jacket and a hoodie..shot the couple in the car and then hopped in a cab." said Hop.

''A Cab?" said my wife Carlotta.

"Yeah, a cab." said Hop...

"Was he driving or a passenger?" asked Duke.

"He may have been driving." said Hop...

"Guys...Let's get back to headquarters...we might just have our first break in the case." said Sissy.

Carlotta looked at me and smiled...

"Think we got a serial killer now?" she asked, rubbing my shoulder...

"Oh most definitely...and we got six open murders...I thought we might have tonight alone together, but our killer had other ideas.." she said.

"That's okay...We are amongst our good  friends.." I said.

 ''Love and Murder will keep us together." said Carlotta.

We all smiled.

TO BE CONTINUED